Supply Chain Expertise and Technology Blog by TMC, a division of C.H. Robinson

Archives for
February 2013

Editor’s Note: How to deliver urgently needed supplies in the aftermath of disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes is one of the most difficult challenges facing responders. This guest post, originally written for the http://humanitarianmit.wordpress.com/*, goes behind the scenes of the Hurricane Sandy relief effort to highlight some transportation challenges that may not be obvious even to seasoned logistics professionals in the commercial sector.

A few days after Superstorm Sandy struck New York, a call came into the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) that a woman was on her way into the city with an 18-wheeler full of donations from her church group. She needed to know where to bring her haul. Read More…

For some time now, the application of the philosophy of “global trade management” (or GTM) has been heralded by the consulting world and the trade community as the gold standard of organizational strategies. Yet, the truth is most companies engaged in international trade have not embraced this method of optimizing their supply chain globally. Read More…

This week, David is speaking at our annual TMC Client Forum in Chicago. Given the relevance of this topic to many, David has provided some information from his session for this guest post contribution.

It is probably a good thing that the economic law of supply and demand is not subject to the whims of the legislative, executive or judicial branches. At the same time, that iron-clad law does tend to limit the ability of policy-makers to provide relief to fuel consumers.

In general, the U.S. energy picture has perhaps never looked better. Technological advances have brightened significantly the domestic supply outlook for oil, both from shale oil reserves and from deep water offshore resources. Higher oil prices and better technologies have made it economically feasible to develop the liquid hydrocarbons trapped in low-permeability/low-porosity formations. Meanwhile, improvements in drilling technology and the opening of additional areas in the Gulf of Mexico and other areas of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) are expected to increase offshore oil production in the coming years. Read More…

From what we’ve seen, it is rare that a company knows their true total landed cost (TLC) for each item they produce and deliver. There’s a reason for this. For most companies, there are many costs in hiding. And unless you hunt down and include those hidden costs in your TLC calculations, you’re basing supply chain decisions on incomplete data. Read More…